In our several decades of visiting manufacturing plants, one thing we’ve learned is that the way equipment is used in the real world can be much different from what we expect when we’re designing it. Call it “off-label use.”
For example, has an operator or maintenance worker in your plant ever walked on one of your accumulation tables?
We recently had a customer decide to buy a bi-flow accumulation table from one of our competitors because it was less expensive. Obviously, we weren’t thrilled, but these things happen.
A short while later, we got a call from that same customer — they weren’t happy with the competition’s bi-flow. We’d heard this before, but this time the reason surprised us. You see, their operators and maintenance technicians had previously used our equipment off-label as a ladder. They were routinely getting up onto the table and walking around to clear product, change light bulbs, and perform maintenance activities that required an elevated platform. The competing table wasn’t sturdy enough to walk on, which meant the operators and maintenance staff couldn’t do their jobs as effectively as they had before.
Now, we’re not recommending you start walking on your accumulation tables. It’s a safety hazard, to say the least. But, the fact that you can walk on our tables illustrates one of the things people love most about our equipment: it’s very heavy duty.
As our President and CEO, Tom Garvey, says: “Our tables may be a little more costly than the competition, but that’s because they’re built like a tank.”